New in our pew

For the last year or so, I've been trying to "pew train" Noah. This has had its ups and downs. As any mother knows, keeping a child quiet and still in church can be a real struggle. Until about a year ago, my main goal was just to keep Noah quiet - I didn't really care what he did, as long as he didn't make noise doing it. He did surprise me at times by singing along with the liturgy and he knows the Lord's Prayer so I always made him stop what he was doing to pray along with the congregation. However, once he turned 5, I felt like it was time to put the coloring books away and start paying attention to what was going on around him. As I said, this has had its ups and downs! Noah usually sings along with hymns, sometimes humming, sometimes singing on la la la and sometimes making up his own words. (He has also been known to sing the correct melody but use the words to SpongeBob SquarePants or other less appropriate words...) Today he did something that made me almost jump for joy in our pew: he sang the ACTUAL words of the first hymn! The hymn was familiar, but I know that Noah was not singing the words from memory, he was following along and singing the correct words. He followed along with the liturgy as well and spoke along with his dad and with the congregation. I am truly amazed at how quickly he is picking up reading and I am so excited that he is able to follow along with the worship service now. Surely this means that life in the pew will get easier, right? I know there will still be ups and downs but for now, this was a step in the right direction and confirmed for me that it is worth the struggle each Sunday to teach Noah not to just be quiet and still in church, but to actively participate in worshiping our Lord.